Man arrested after pipe bombs found in Northeast Philadelphia home

Police detonated one of the devices and removed the other five after they were deemed safe.

Philadelphia police evacuated residents from Oxford Circle homes after pipe bombs were discovered in a Shisler Street home on Thursday.Credit: Rikard Larma, Metro

The Philadelphia Police Department's bomb squad and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives removed six pipe bombs from a home in the city's Oxford Circle section on Thursday.

Michael T. Ber, 36, was arrested around 10 p.m. Thursday at his other home in Northampton County after federal authorities tracked him there, CBS Philly reports.

A woman who lives with Ber at the home on the 6100 block of Shisler Street, in Northeast Philadelphia's Oxford Circle section, found the six pipe bombs in the basement and called for help around 10 a.m. Thursday. Police detonated one of the devices and removed the other five after they were deemed safe.

Residents of nearby homes were evacuated until police could deem the situation under control. A local school was also placed on lockdown for a brief time.

Police allegedly found another pipe bomb at Ber's home in Roseto, Northampton County.

Ber will be officially charged with possessing a destructive device during an arraignment before a federal magistrate in Philadelphia today. Authorities say the 36-year-old is not believed to be connected to domestic terrorism.